Poll finds NJ voters may not have picked Carl Lewis afterall

EPA/PETER FOLEYNew Jersey rejected Olympic star Carl Lewis in his bid for state Senate due to issues with residency requirements

Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic gold medals, is considered a favorite son by some New Jerseyans, but voters in the 8th District don’t think so — at least according to an internal Republican poll.

So maybe Republicans spent a lot of time and money for nothing.

Taken less than two weeks after Lewis was removed from the Nov. 8 ballot as the Democratic state Senate candidate for not meeting the residency requirement — the poll found 28 percent of respondents in the Republican-leaning district have an unfavorable opinion of him, while 21 percent view him favorably. Forty-one percent had no opinion of him.

“As a result of the political maneuvering of Carl Lewis and the Democratic Party apparatus, it appears not only that the negative opinions of Carl Lewis have gone up, but this will also make it very difficult for him to improve his image and run for political office in the future,” the pollster Jim McLaughlin wrote in a memorandum given to The Auditor by Chris Russell, a Burlington County Republican consultant.

While the poll, taken by McLaughlin and Associates, included other candidates as well, The Auditor was shown only the numbers on Lewis. It surveyed 300 likely voters on Oct. 3 and 4, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 percentage points.

The poll also found 59 percent of the surveyed voters thought a federal appellate court panel was right to oust Lewis from the ballot, while 27 percent disagreed.

But Chris Walker, a Lewis aide, said he took the poll with a grain of salt because “numbers can be manipulated” and voters never saw a “clear picture” since Lewis “was tainted because of the court procedures.”

Take the money and run. Or not.

Although the Republican State Committee has been raking in money thanks to Gov. Chris Christie’s growing national reputation and Rolodex, it recently had to refund a few large contributions.

The Auditor noticed, in the party’s latest campaign finance report, it refunded $35,000: $25,000 to Victor Ganzi of New York and $10,000 to Thomas Lynch of Bedminster.

“Refunds are a part of the process,” said Rick Gorka, the committee spokesman, who declined to say why the donations were returned.

Ganzi, a former chief executive of the Hearst Corp. and board chairman of PGA TOUR Inc., did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Lynch, executive vice president of KDC Solar.

The party also refunded $10,000 to Richard Lipsky, an anesthesiologist from Woodcliff Lake, along with smaller ones. None of the donors who got money back appeared to have exceeded the $25,000 limit. But none could be reached to say why the money was returned.

The Democratic State Committee, which took in far less, refunded $2,000 to the 19th District Democratic Leadership Fund in March.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), the state party chairman, said he was not surprised. “With the advent over the last decade of pay-to-play laws, refunds have been more a part of political operations than they have in the past,” he said, adding that now “people make contributions and go, ‘Wait a minute, I can’t bid on state work?’ Then, there’s a request for the refund.”

Also, donors may exceed the limits inadvertently, have a change of heart or don’t like “the optics,” he said.

A super trooper

The State Police headquarters in Ewing has been on full alert since Hurricane Irene churned through New Jersey and dumped a ton of rain, pushing rivers beyond their banks and chasing thousands to higher ground.

But inside the division’s huge command center, filled with computers and giant TV monitors, life isn’t always so serious, The Auditor has learned.

State Police Supt. Rick Fuentes said recently he allowed those manning the center to watch the Super Bowl and college basketball’s Final Four tournament on the big screens, all in the name of national security.

“These are events that are of great risk, so I don’t mind at all if I see it on one of the TVs.” Fuentes said.

He paused, smiled, and said, “Is that pretty good justification?”

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie

A mom seeks a Missouri compromise

No matter where the peripatetic governor goes, he can’t escape New Jersey. Last week, Chris Christie hosted a fundraiser for a Missouri congressional candidate, Ann Wagner, who is locked in a Republican primary race with a fellow named Ed Martin.

Turns out, a constituent of Christie — Martin’s mother, of Whitehouse Station — wasn’t happy about him jumping in on Wagner’s side.

“Perhaps your staff was not made aware of the fact that Ed Martin Jr. is the other Republican candidate in that primary,” Virginia Martin wrote to Christie in a letter obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

She pointed out that Martin grew up in New Jersey and attended Readington Township public schools and St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City. She bemoaned the fundraising Christie was doing for Wagner, pointing out that it’s difficult for her son to compete against an establishment-backed candidate.

“It certainly does not help when the respected governor of your home state lends his support to your challenger,” Martin, a registered Republican, wrote.